Systems and methods for training network-connected objects to provide configurations in association with events within media assets

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for training network-connected objects to provide configurations in association with events within media assets. A respective configuration setting of a network-connected object and a baseline biometric state of a user may be stored in a database for each event within a media asset. An event within a media asset (for display) may be detected. In response, a command may be sent to the network-connected object to implement the respective configuration setting. A determination may be made whether the user adjusts the respective configuration setting to a new configuration setting within a predefined time of the event. A biometric state of the user may be retrieved from a biometric device in response to the adjustment to a new configuration setting. If the biometric state does not correspond to the baseline biometric state, the respective configuration setting may be replaced with the new configuration setting.

BACKGROUND

There are many media devices available to users, each capable ofproviding media content. Furthermore, implementation of “smart” devices(i.e., devices integrated with processors and able to perform simplecomputer functions) is now ubiquitous. For example, chairs may store auser's preferred setting (i.e., the amount of recline that a userprefers when watching television). Lighting may include custom dimmingsuch that a room is dimmed to a user's preferred level when watchingtelevision. Likewise, set-top boxes and other devices that receiveand/or upon which users enjoy content (e.g., tablets, smartphones, etc.)may implement media guidance functions that aim to determine what a userprefers to watch (e.g., provide recommendations) or provide otherfunctions with respect to media guidance data. With devices continuallyoffering increasing features and functions, a need exists to coordinatebetween the numerous “smart” features. While minimal coordination can beachieved through some short-range communication techniques (e.g.,Bluetooth pairing), providing more advanced coordination, particularlybetween devices with diverse features and functions that may be whollydistinct and incompatible with features and functions of other devices,has not been possible.

SUMMARY

To improve coordination between distinct smart devices, and inparticular, smart devices that provide diverse features and functions,methods and systems are disclosed herein for applications that implementInternet of Things (IoT) technology to provide more robustcommunications between one or more network-connected objects within anetwork. This robust structure allows for applications to overcome thecurrent barriers to coordinating the diverse features and functions ofdifferent devices.

One example of an application using IoT technology to coordinate devicesis in the context of alerts during media asset events. For example, inaddition to devices upon which a user consumes media (e.g., televisions,tablets, computers, etc.), there are other network-connected objects ordevices that users may utilize during playback of media content. Forexample, a user may be sitting in a network-connected chair whilewatching media content being displayed from a digital video recorder.Users may react to certain events in the media content being displayedwhich requires an adjustment to the settings of the network-connectedobject. As the user reacts to an event in the media content beingdisplayed, the user may have to manually adjust settings of thenetwork-connected object to enjoy the event (e.g., a chair may need tobe moved out of a reclined position during an event in a media asset).If a user becomes too distracted in manually adjusting the settings ofthe network-connected objects during display of media content,especially during specific events, the user may miss important parts ofthe media content. Application of IoT technology to these problemsallows for applications to communicate with each other to bettercoordinate.

For example, the smart chair may be programmed to automatically adoptparticular configurations (e.g., change from a reclined to an uprightposition) in response to a prompt from another device (e.g., a set-topbox detecting an event in a media asset). However, even with thiscoordination, yet another problem exists. For example, thenetwork-connected object may be initially programmed with settings thatadjust configurations upon an event, but not to the user's preferences.If the settings of the network-connected objects do not adjust to thesettings in accordance with user preferences, then the enjoyment of themedia content by the user is adversely affected. Furthermore, simplyquerying the user about the numerous potential events that may occur andthe particular configuration (of which there may also be numerous andfor which the user may have no way of adequately describing) may betedious to the user. Thus, even after applying IoT technology to smartdevices to overcome current barriers to coordinating the diversefeatures and functions of different devices, these systems still fail toaccount for how to automatically determine configurations for IoTdevices based on events in media assets and a user's preferredconfiguration of that IoT device in response to a predicted event.

Accordingly, to overcome the problems created when network-connectedobjects are not configured with user preferences in relation to eventswithin media content systems, systems and methods are described hereinfor training network-connected objects to apply respective configurationsettings in association with events within media assets. Furthermore, asopposed to conventual methods of querying a user, the systems andmethods described herein use biometric data to train network-connectedobjects to apply respective configuration settings in association withevents within media assets. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay store a respective configuration setting of a network-connectedobject in a database for each event within the media asset. A baselinebiometric state of a user may also be stored in the database by themedia guidance application. The media guidance application may detect anevent within a media asset for display. In response, the media guidanceapplication may send a command to the network-connected object toimplement the respective configuration setting. The media guidanceapplication may determine whether the user adjusts the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within a predefinedtime of the event. The media guidance application may retrieve abiometric state of the user from a biometric device in response to theadjustment to a new configuration setting. If the biometric state doesnot correspond to the baseline biometric state, the respectiveconfiguration setting may be replaced with the new configurationsetting.

Accordingly, the network-connected object is trained for events in amedia asset through user preferences and biometric states such that theuser need not manually adjust the settings of the network-connectedobject in reaction to a particular event being displayed within themedia asset. The system described does not necessitate user input,meaning such a technique is not tedious for a user to program eachnetwork-connected object. Another benefit derived from the systemdescribed is that the network-connected device need not have particularlabeled configurations in an effort to accommodate the most frequentuser requests; rather, the system described provides for configurationsettings for each particular user, based on biometric states of theuser, and other information relating to the user. False positives arealso mitigated by implementing the described system, as the mediaguidance application trains the network-connected objects with biometricstates of a user.

As an example, a media guidance application on a DVR displays a hockeygame. The user is watching the hockey game in a recliner chair that isnetwork-connected and is currently in a reclined state. The user alsohas a smartwatch (i.e., network-enabled watch) on their person, whichmeasures their heart rate. The media guidance application detects thatone team has scored a goal within the hockey game. The smartwatchprovides the media guidance application with information about theuser's heart rate. If the user's heart rate rises during the scoring ofthe goal (e.g., exceeding a baseline biometric state), the mediaguidance application will send a command to the recliner chair toimplement a setting to adjust the recliner chair to an upright setting(e.g., a respective configuration setting for the event of a goalscored). Accordingly, as the current state of the recliner chair in thereclined configuration is obstructing the user's ability to stand andcheer, the user need not manually configure the recliner chair back toan upright configuration; rather, the media guidance applicationprovides for an automatic change in the network-connected recliner chairbased on the change in baseline biometrics in relation to the goal beingscored in the hockey game being displayed by the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, a respective configuration setting, of a pluralityof configuration settings, of a network-connected object for each of aplurality of events within a media asset and a baseline biometric stateof a user may be stored in a database by the media guidance application.For example, a respective configuration setting of a network-connectedrecliner chair is stored by the media guidance application in adatabase. The respective configuration setting of the recliner is foreach event within a tennis match featuring tennis players Rafael Nadalagainst Roger Federer. Additionally, the baseline heart rate of the userassociated with the media guidance application is stored by the mediaguidance application within the same database. By storing the respectiveconfiguration settings of the network-connected object, the databaseprovides for enhanced preferences for the user with respect to eachevent within a media asset to enhance training of the network-connectedobject.

The media guidance application may generate a display of the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application generates display ofthe tennis match featuring Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer.

The media guidance application may detect an event within the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application detects a winning setpoint by Rafael Nadal in the tennis match.

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, therespective configuration setting of the network-connected object for theevent may be retrieved by the media guidance application from thedatabase. For example, the media guidance application will detect theset point won by Rafael Nadal and retrieve the respective configurationsetting for the recliner chair for this particular event—namely,adjusting the recliner such that the cup holder tension is increased toprevent spillage of the beverage in anticipation of potential jostlingof the recliner caused by user excitement. By retrieving the respectiveconfiguration setting of the network-connected object from the database,the media guidance application updates the network-connected object witha respective configuration setting, which is required for laterdetermination of whether to alter the respective configuration settingto a new configuration setting.

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, the mediaguidance application may send a command to the network-connected objectto implement the respective configuration setting. For example, themedia guidance application will send a command to the recliner chair toimplement the increase of tension of the cup holder. By implementing therespective configuration setting on the network-connected object, themedia guidance application adjusts the network-connected object inresponse to the event to provide an enhanced user experience to the user(e.g., in this scenario, where the user may become very excited andpotentially knock the cup out of the beverage holder, the increasedtension of the cup holder ensures a firmer grip on the drink to avoidany potential spillage).

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, the mediaguidance application (e.g., implemented on the user equipment) may senda command to the network-connected object to implement the respectiveconfiguration setting. For example, the media guidance application willsend a command to the recliner chair to implement the increased tensionof the cup holder in the recliner chair. Once again, by implementing therespective configuration setting on the network-connected object, thenetwork-connected object adjusts in response to the event to provide anenhanced user experience to the user.

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, the mediaguidance application determines whether the user adjusts the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within a predefinedtime of the event. The new configuration setting is one of a pluralityof configuration settings. For example, as previously stated, the mediaguidance application will send a command to the recliner chair toimplement the increase of cup holder tension. If the user reached forthe beverage within a predefined time of 5 seconds after the set pointis won by Rafael Nadal and forces the beverage out of the cup holder,the user effectively adjusted the respective configuration setting(increased tension to prevent spillage) to a new configuration setting(wiggled to reduce tension to access cup). By determining whether theuser adjusted the network-connected object to a new configurationsetting within a predefined time threshold, further information isgathered for training the network-connected object to apply the correctrespective configuration setting with respect to the particular event.

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, and infurther response to a determination that the user adjusted therespective configuration setting within a predefined time, the mediaguidance application retrieves a biometric state of the user from abiometric device. For example, the user may be wearing a smartwatch onhis wrist (e.g., a wearable technology device), which has the capabilityof measuring the user's heart rate. During the set point won by RafaelNadal, the media guidance application retrieves the user's heart ratefrom the smartwatch. By determining the biometric state in response tothe detection of the event, the biometric state can be used as anadditional variable to determine accuracy of respective configurationsetting selection to ensure user engagement rather than an occurrenceunrelated to the media asset. This mitigates the occurrence of falsepositives, as false positives are more common when commands tonetwork-connected devices are issued solely based on event determinationlacking additional variables (e.g., biometrics).

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, the mediaguidance application may determine whether the biometric statecorresponds to the baseline biometric state. For example, the user'sheart rate in response to the event is compared to the baseline userheart rate. Once again, a comparison between biometric state values canprovide an additional variable to determine accuracy of respectiveconfiguration setting selection to ensure user engagement rather than anoccurrence unrelated to the media asset.

In response to detecting the event within the media asset, and infurther response to a determination that the biometric state does notcorrespond to the baseline biometric state, the media guidanceapplication replaces the respective configuration setting with the newconfiguration setting. For example, if the user's heart rate is 80 beatsper minute as a baseline biometric state, and in response to RafaelNadal winning set point, the user's heart rate is 100 beats per minute,then the baseline biometric state heart rate does not correspond to theheart rate measured in response to the winning set point. The mediaguidance application provides an adjustment to the respectiveconfiguration setting based on a comparison of biometric state of theuser; this provides for enhanced training of the network-connectedobject by ensuring a more accurate storage of respective configurationsettings in response to a particular event.

In some embodiments, in response to a determination that the biometricstate does not correspond to the baseline biometric state in thedatabase, a record may be increased (e.g., incremented). The recordpertains to the number of times the user adjusted the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within thepredefined time. Additionally, a determination is made by the mediaguidance application, for the event, of whether the increased recordexceeds a threshold number. The respective configuration setting isreplaced with the new configuration setting in response to the mediaguidance application determining that the increased record exceeds athreshold number. For example, if the record threshold number is 2, andif Rafael Nadal wins a first set point and the user adjusts the reclinerchair to an upright position from a previous reclined position within 5seconds of the set point, the media guidance application will not updatethe respective configuration setting in the database. However, if RafaelNadal wins a second set point and the user adjusts the recliner chair toan upright position from a previous reclined position within 5 secondsof the second set point, then the record threshold is met, and the mediaguidance application stores the respective configuration setting in thedatabase as configuring the chair to be upright upon any future setpoint being won by Rafael Nadal for the current user. By implementing arecord requiring a threshold number, this reduces the possibility offalse positives where in some cases the deviation between the user'sbiometric state and baseline biometric state is not responsive to theevent, rather it may be unrelated; thus, by having a threshold number,this ensures that a sufficient number of events occur before an updatingof a new respective configuration setting in association with the event.

In some embodiments, in response to a determination that the biometricstate does correspond to the baseline biometric state in the database, arecord may not be increased. For example, if Rafael Nadal wins a secondset point but the user's heart rate in response to the win of the secondset point corresponds to the baseline biometric state, then the mediaguidance application does not increase the record and does not updatethe respective configuration setting. Once again, by implementing arecord requiring a threshold number, this reduces the possibility offalse positives.

In some embodiments, the predefined time of the event may be determinedby inputting the event into a database of time thresholds for the userfor different events to determine the predefined time corresponding tothe event and the user. For example, the media guidance application mayput a set winning point by Rafael Nadal into a database which returns apredefined time of the event to be 5 seconds. By implementing apredefined time of the event, a more accurate system to capture userreaction in response to an event may be achieved to more effectivelytrain a network-connected object.

In some embodiments, the predefined time of the event may be determinedby inputting the event into a database of time thresholds, for thebaseline biometric state of the user, for different events to determinethe predefined time corresponding to the event and the baselinebiometric state of the user. For example, the media guidance applicationinput the event of a set winning point by Rafael Nadal into a databasewhich would return a predefined time of the event to be 5 seconds and 80beats per minute corresponding baseline biometric state of the user. Byimplementing a predefined time of the event with a biometric state ofthe user, a more accurate system may be achieved which considersbiometric variables for events to more effectively train anetwork-connected object.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of configuration settings maycorrespond to a respective state of the network-connected object inwhich the network-connected object existed for a threshold period oftime after connection to a network of the user. For example, therecliner chair may have various configuration settings including, butnot limited to, fully reclined, midway reclined, and upright. Each ofthese configuration settings corresponds to a respective state of therecliner chair once the chair is connected to the network with the mediaguidance application. By implementing a network-connected objectexisting for a threshold period of time within a state, this serves todefine states of the object, which, in turn, provides the informationneeded to train the network-connected object.

In some embodiments, determining that the network-connected object mayhave existed in each of the respective states for the threshold periodof time further comprises monitoring for a user input entered by theuser into the network-connected object. Additionally, the media guidanceapplication determines that the user input entered by the user may haveresulted in a state of the network-connected object. Finally, a lengthof time may be recorded by the media guidance application until asubsequent user input entered by the user may result in a new state ofthe network-connected object. For example, the recliner chair is left ina reclined position. A user configures the recliner such that therecliner returns to an upright position. If the user leaves the chair inan upright position for more than 1 minute, the media guidanceapplication determines that the chair is currently configured in anupright state. By implementing a determination of user input andrecording a length of time to satisfy a network-connected object staterequirement, a clear definition of states of a network-connected objectcan be determined, which is used for training the network-connectedobject.

In some embodiments, determining that the network-connected objectexisted in each of the respective states for the threshold period oftime further comprises monitoring for a user input entered by the userinto the network-connected object. Additionally, the media guidanceapplication determines that the user input entered by the user resultedin a state of the network-connected object. For example, the reclinerchair is left in a reclined position. A user configures the reclinersuch that the recliner returns to an upright position. If the userleaves the chair in an upright position for 2 minutes, the mediaguidance application determines that the chair is configured in anupright state. Once again, by determining the network-connected objectremains in a new orientation for a threshold amount of time providesfurther clarity of states of a network-connected object which is usedfor training the network-connected object.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of configuration settings maycorrespond to mechanical changes in an orientation of thenetwork-connected object. For example, the recliner chair mechanicallyalters, either through instruction from the media guidance applicationor user adjustment, its configuration from a reclined position to anupright position. The changes between these two configurationsnecessitate mechanical changes. By implementing mechanical changes in anorientation of the network-connected object, distinct states of thenetwork-connected object can be determined, which is used for trainingthe network-connected object.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of configuration settings maybe designated as one of the plurality of configuration settings by theuser. For example, the user may program (e.g., through an electronicapplication) the network-connected object such that the configurationsettings are designated by the user. The user may wish to set therecliner chair to always have the respective configuration setting asupright, irrespective of the type of event within the tennis match. Byimplementing user-designated configuration settings, thenetwork-connected object is programmed with the corresponding respectiveconfiguration setting associated with an event.

It should also be noted that the systems and/or methods described abovemay be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/ormethods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The below and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1A shows an illustrative embodiment of a user watching a mediaasset whilst interacting with a network-connected object at a first timeperiod;

FIG. 1B shows an illustrative embodiment of a user reacting to an eventwithin the media asset whilst interacting with a network-connectedobject at a second time period;

FIG. 1C shows an illustrative embodiment of a user reacting to an eventwithin the media asset whilst interacting with a network-connectedobject at a third time period;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for representing adjusting anInternet of Things device based on user reaction to events in media tofacilitate a physical action of the user;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for representing the training ofnetwork-connected objects to provide configurations in association withevents within media assets; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process for representing the determining of anetwork-connected object existing in respective states for a thresholdperiod of time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for training network-connectedobjects to provide configurations in association with events withinmedia assets. A media guidance application stores a respectiveconfiguration setting of a network-connected object and a baselinebiometric state of a user in a database for each event within a mediaasset. An event within a media asset (for display) may be detected bythe media guidance application. In response, a command may be sent fromthe media guidance application to the network-connected object toimplement the respective configuration setting. The media guidanceapplication determines whether the user adjusts the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within a predefinedtime of the event. A biometric state of the user may be retrieved by themedia guidance application from a biometric device in response to theadjustment to the new configuration setting. If the biometric state doesnot correspond to the baseline biometric state, the media guidanceapplication may replace the respective configuration setting with thenew configuration setting.

FIG. 1A shows an illustrative embodiment 100 of a user watching a mediaasset whilst interacting with a network-connected object at a first timeperiod, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 1Adepicts user equipment 108, which may include control circuitry thatexecutes a media guidance application on any user equipment. Thefunctionality of the user equipment, control circuitry, and the mediaguidance application is described in further detail below with respectto FIGS. 2-5.

The media guidance application may generate for display a media asset(e.g., a hockey game) on user equipment 108 for a user 102 inenvironment 100. The user 102 is in a relaxed state watching the hockeygame in a relaxed posture. The user 102 is wearing a biometric device105 (e.g., a smartwatch with heart rate sensor). The user's heart rateis at a baseline biometric state in environment 100. A network-connectedobject 103 (e.g., a network-connected recliner chair) is in theenvironment 100 and connected to the media guidance application. Therecliner chair has configuration settings which may be adjusted in manyimplementations, for example here by illustration, an upper portion 104and a lower portion 106, which both adjust based on the level ofrecline. In environment 100, the upper portion 104 and lower portion 106of the recliner chair 103 are at full recline configuration settings.

FIG. 1B shows an illustrative embodiment of a user reacting to an eventwithin the media asset whilst interacting with a network-connectedobject at a second time period, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. FIG. 1B depicts user equipment 108, which may includecontrol circuitry that executes a media guidance application on any userequipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry,and the media guidance application is described in further detail belowwith respect to FIGS. 2-5.

The media guidance application may generate for display a media asset(e.g., a hockey game) on user equipment 108 for a user 102 inenvironment 110. Environment 100 and 110 may be the same environment(e.g., same living room) at two different times. The hockey gamedisplayed on the user equipment 108 in environment 100 and 110 may be atdifferent times. The hockey game displayed on the user equipment 108 inenvironment 110 displays a goal being scored. The user 102 reacts to thescored being goal with excitement. User 102 initiates movement to shiftposture from a relaxed posture to one of standing. The smartwatch 105 ofthe user's wrist measures the heart rate of the user 102, where theheart rate is at an increased biometric state from the user's baselinebiometric state. The recliner chair 103 may adjust the upper portion 104and lower portion 106 to a mid-recline configuration setting.

FIG. 1C shows an illustrative embodiment of a user reacting to an eventwithin the media asset whilst interacting with a network-connectedobject at a third time period, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. FIG. 1C depicts user equipment 108, which may includecontrol circuitry that executes a media guidance application on any userequipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry,and the media guidance application is described in further detail belowwith respect to FIGS. 2-5.

The media guidance application may generate for display a media asset(e.g., a hockey game) implemented on user equipment 108 for a user 102in environment 120. Environment 100, 110, and 120 may be the sameenvironment (e.g., same living room) at three different time periods.The hockey game displayed on the user equipment 108 in environment 100,110, and 120 may be at three different times. The hockey game displayedon the user equipment 108 in environment 120 displays the celebration ofa goal having been previously scored. The user 102 reacts to the scoredgoal with heightened excitement. User 102 is standing upright as thegoal caused him to leap with excitement from a sitting position to anupright standing and clapping posture. The smartwatch 105 of the user'swrist measures the heart rate of the user 102, where the heart rate isat an increased biometric state from the user's baseline biometricstate. The recliner chair 103 may adjust the upper portion 104 and lowerportion 106 to an upright configuration setting.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store arespective configuration setting of the network-connected object foreach of a plurality of events within the media asset and a baselinebiometric state of a user. The configuration may be any suitablearrangement of elements of the network-connected object. In someembodiments, for example, it may include any arrangement of mechanicalelements in the network-connected object when the mechanical elementsare at rest (i.e., not moving). For example, if the network-connectedobject is a chair with mechanical elements that can recline to a 90degree resting position, 75 degree resting position, and a 65 degreeresting position, the configurations of the network-connected object maycorrespond to the 90 degree resting position, 75 degree restingposition, and a 65 degree resting position. In some embodiments, aconfiguration may include any arrangement of mechanical elements in thenetwork-connected object that correspond to a factory preset. Forexample, if the network-connected object is a chair with mechanicalelements that can recline to a first resting position, a second restingposition, or a third resting position, upon a user selection of preset1, 2, or 3, respectively, the configurations of the network-connectedobject may correspond to the first, second, and third resting positions.In some embodiments, a configuration may include any arrangement ofmechanical elements in the network-connected object that is maintainedfor a threshold period of time. For example, if the network-connectedobject is a chair with mechanical elements that can be manipulated by auser to obtain a state having varying combinations of a particularincline, massage strength, seat warmth, etc., the configurations of thenetwork-connected object may correspond to any state in which thenetwork-connected object remains for the threshold period of time (e.g.,30 seconds). An event may be any occurrence within a media asset. Anevent may be at any temporal position within the media asset, and insome cases multiple events can occur within a single temporal positionwithin the media asset. In some embodiments, for example, an event mayinclude any and all plays causing a stoppage within a sports match. Insome embodiments, an event may be predefined within a particular mediaasset by the user through the media guidance application. In someembodiments, the media guidance application stores the respectiveconfiguration setting in a database. A database may be any storagemedium that is communicatively connected to the media guidanceapplication. For example, a database may be part of the user equipment108 using shared or dedicated memory of the user equipment 108. In otherembodiments, the database is a separate storage device communicativelyconnected to the user equipment 108 by a local area network or a widearea network. The database may store any assortment of information. Forexample, the database may store information in relation to theparticular media asset, configuration settings of one or morenetwork-connected objects, user-specific information and/or metadata,and similar types of information. The following example illustrates userequipment 108 storing configuration settings in a database. A mediaguidance application (e.g., implemented on user equipment 108) may storea configuration setting of the recliner chair 103 in a database in theevent of a goal scored by a team during a hockey game involving theteam. Here, the user equipment 108 would store a configuration settingof the recliner chair 103 for a goal event such that the recliner chair103 adjusts to a configuration setting the upper portion 104 and lowerportion 106 to an upright configuration setting.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may assign each ofthe plurality of configuration settings to a respective state of thenetwork-connected object in which the network-connected object existedfor a threshold period of time after connection to a network of theuser. A state of a network-connected object may be any configuration ofthe network-connected object that is defined as a state in the databaseby satisfying a threshold period of time. A threshold period of time isthe requisite time required for the current configuration of thenetwork-connected object to be defined as a state. In some embodiments,a threshold period of time may be preset by the media guidanceapplication for all events, devices, network-connected objects, andusers. In other embodiments, the threshold period of time may be presetby the media guidance application specific to at least one of events,devices, network-connected objects, and users. In yet other embodiments,the threshold period of time may be preset by a third-party networkobject that is communicatively connected to the media guidanceapplication implemented on the user equipment 108. In an illustrativeexample, the media guidance application, connected to the same networkas the recliner chair 103, may adjust the upper portion 104 and lowerportion 106 of the recliner chair 103 to a particular configurationsetting. This particular configuration is stored within a database andthe corresponding time threshold associated with this configuration mayhave to exist for 5 seconds for this particular configuration setting tobe a respective state.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe network-connected object existed in each of the respective statesfor the threshold period of time by monitoring for a user input enteredby the user into the network-connected object, determining that the userinput entered by the user resulted in a state of the network-connectedobject, and recording a length of time until a subsequent user inputentered by the user results in a new state of the network-connectedobject. A user input may be any command, tactile manipulation, gesture,or similar provision interfacing with the network-connected object. Forexample, continuing from the previous example, the user equipment 108monitors user input to the recliner chair 103 and determines whether theuser input results in a state of the recliner chair 103. In someinstances, the media guidance application (e.g., implemented on userequipment 108) also records a length of time until a subsequent userinput results in a new state of the recliner chair 103.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may assign theplurality of configuration settings to mechanical changes in anorientation of the network-connected object. For example, aconfiguration setting of the recliner chair includes an upper portion104 and lower portion 106 being adjusted. An adjustment from thisconfiguration setting to another configuration setting (e.g., an uprightconfiguration setting to a full recline configuration setting)corresponds to mechanical changes in the orientation of the reclinerchair 103.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may designate theplurality of configuration settings as one of the plurality ofconfiguration settings by the user. For example, the user 102 may setthe recliner chair 103 to remain in an upright configuration setting forall events during display of the hockey game by the media guidanceapplication (e.g., implemented on user equipment 108).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate themedia asset for display. For example, the media guidance application(e.g., implemented on user equipment 108) displays a hockey game to theuser 102. In some embodiments, the user equipment (e.g., implementingthe media guidance application) may generate the media asset for displayon a network-connected (or hardwired) display device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect an eventwithin the media asset. For example, the media guidance application(e.g., implemented on user equipment 108) displays a hockey game to user102 and may detect a goal being scored within the hockey game. In otherinstances, a fight that breaks out in the hockey game may be anotherevent. In yet other instances, a penalty taken in the hockey game by ateam may be yet another event.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, retrieve the respectiveconfiguration setting of the network-connected object for the event. Forexample, the media guidance application (e.g., implemented on userequipment 108) displays a hockey game to user 102 where the user issitting in the recliner chair 103. During display of the hockey game agoal scored is detected. In response to detecting the goal scored, themedia guidance application retrieves the respective configurationsetting of the recliner chair 103 from a database which and the reclinerchair by setting the upper portion 104 and lower portion 106 to anupright configuration setting.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, send a command to thenetwork-connected object to implement the respective configurationsetting. A command may be any data stream that is sent from the mediaguidance application to the network-connected object. For example,continuing from the previous example, the user equipment 108 sends acommand to the recliner chair 103 to implement the respectiveconfiguration setting of the recliner chair 103 to adjust the reclinerchair setting the upper portion 104 and lower portion 106 to an uprightconfiguration setting.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, determine whether the useradjusts the respective configuration setting to a new configurationsetting within a predefined time of the event. A user adjustment may bea command, tactile manipulation, gesture, or similar provisioninterfacing with the network-connected object. A predefined time of theevent may be predefined by the media guidance application. In otherembodiments, the predefined time of the event may be predefined by auser of the media guidance application. In yet other embodiments,associations of predefined times of events may be stored in a database.For example, continuing from the previous example, in response to thegoal being detected by the media guidance application (e.g., implementedon user equipment 108), the user 102 alters the recliner chair 103 bytactile manipulation from the upright position (previously implementedin response to the goal scored) to an alternate configuration setting(e.g., such as reverting back to a recline configuration setting wherethe upper portion 104 and lower portion 106 are in full reclineconfiguration setting). The corresponding predefined time associatedwith this adjustment by the user is retrieved from a database by theuser equipment (e.g., media guidance application) which returns apredefined time of five seconds of the goal being scored. Here, the useradjusted the recliner chair within 5 seconds, and thus a positivedetermination is made that the user adjusted the configuration settingof the recliner chair 103.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thepredefined time of the event by inputting the event into a database oftime thresholds for the user for different events to determine thepredefined time corresponding to the event and the user. For example,continuing from the previous example, the user equipment 108 may inputthe event of a goal scored into a database and receive a time thresholdfor the event of a goal scored where the time threshold is 5 seconds.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thepredefined time of the event by inputting the event into a database oftime thresholds, for the baseline biometric state of the user, fordifferent events to determine the predefined time corresponding to theevent and the baseline biometric state of the user. For example,continuing from the previous example, the user equipment 108 may inputthe event of a goal scored into a database as well as the heart rate ofthe user 102 and receive a time threshold for the event of a goal scoredwhere the time threshold is 5 seconds.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, and in further response todetermining that the user adjusted the respective configuration settingwithin a predefined time, retrieve, by the user equipment, a biometricstate of the user from a biometric device. A biometric state of a usermay be any metric in relation to the physical or mental state of theuser. In some embodiments, the biometric state may include vital signsof a user including measurements of a user's pulse, breathing pace,pupil dilation, heart rate, and similar measurements. In otherembodiments, a user's biometric state involves measurements derived froma finger-prick blood test of the user, a swab of the user's saliva, abiopsy, and similar measurements. A biometric state may be representedas a single piece of data or a collection of data over time for aspecific user. A biometric state may involve computational analysis ofone or more of the biometric measurements above to derive a variedbiometric state score. For example, the measured biometric state of auser measured over a year may be used to generate a baseline biometricstate for the user. A biometric device may be any device which iscommunicatively connected to user equipment 108 while also facilitatingthe measurement of a biometric state of the user. For example, abiometric device may be a network-connected smartwatch, mobile phone,computer, tablet (e.g., which all have the ability to take a biometricmeasurement such as a user's pulse). In other embodiments, biometricdevices include a network-enabled portable wrist pulse detector,network-enabled nodes attached to a user's chest to monitor heart rate,a network-enabled finger-prick device to measure blood of a user, andsimilar devices. For example, continuing from the previous example, inresponse to a positive determination that the user adjusted theconfiguration setting of the recliner chair 103, the heart rate of theuser 102 is retrieved from the smartwatch 105 worn by the user 102, thesmartwatch mounted on the user's wrist having embedded capabilities tomeasure the user's pulse.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, determine, by the userequipment, whether the biometric state corresponds to the baselinebiometric state. A baseline biometric state may be a predefinedbiometric state of the user. In some embodiments, the baseline biometricstate is used for comparison to a measured biometric state. A baselinebiometric state may be stored in a database for a specific user. Thebiometric state may be data from a third-party database (e.g., healthinsurance database, hospital database, electronic medical recordsdatabase). As mentioned above, the measured biometric state of a usermeasured over a year may be used to generate a baseline biometric statefor the user. For example, continuing from the previous example, theretrieved heart rate of the user 102 is compared against a baselineheart rate of the user 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetecting the event within the media asset, and further in response todetermining that the biometric state does not correspond to the baselinebiometric state, replace the respective configuration setting with thenew configuration setting. For example, continuing from the previousexample, if the media guidance application determines that the retrievedheart rate of the user 102 previously retrieved is not corresponding tothe baseline heart rate of the user 102, the media guidance applicationreplaces the respective configuration setting of the recliner chair 103(e.g., upright configuration setting) with the current configurationsetting (e.g., full recline setting).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the biometric state does not correspond to the baselinebiometric state, increase, in the database, a record of a number oftimes the user adjusted the respective configuration setting to a newconfiguration setting within the predefined time. Further, the userequipment may determine, for the event, whether the increased recordexceeds a threshold number, wherein the respective configuration settingis replaced with the new configuration setting in response todetermining that the increased record exceeds a threshold number. Forexample, continuing from the previous example, in this embodiment, thereplacement of the current configuration setting would not occur unlessthe user 102 adjusted the recliner chair 3 times from the uprightconfiguration setting to the full recline configuration setting within 5seconds every time the same team scores a goal. The threshold number forthe goal event for the hockey game was set to 3. Therefore, in thisexample, the media guidance application replaces the respectiveconfiguration setting of the recliner chair 103 (e.g., uprightconfiguration setting) with the current configuration setting (e.g.,full recline setting) upon the third occurrence of a goal scored by ateam.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the biometric state does correspond to the baselinebiometric state, not increase, in the database, a record of a number oftimes the user adjusted the respective configuration setting to a newconfiguration setting within the predefined time. For example,continuing from the previous example, in this embodiment, if a goal wasscored but the heart rate of the user 102 retrieved from the smartwatch105 corresponded to the baseline heart rate of the user 102, then themedia guidance application would not increase the record number.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5.User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may generate fordisplay the content of the displays locally on equipment device 400.This way, the processing of the instructions is performed remotely bythe server while the resulting displays are provided locally onequipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from theuser via input interface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remoteserver for processing and generating the corresponding displays. Forexample, equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remoteserver indicating that an up/down button was selected via inputinterface 410. The remote server may process instructions in accordancewith that input and generate a display of the application correspondingto the input (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). Thegenerated display is then transmitted to equipment device 400 forpresentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process 600 for adjustingan Internet of Things device based on user reaction to events in mediato facilitate a physical action of the user, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 600, and any of the followingprocesses, may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., in a mannerinstructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance application).Control circuitry 404 may be part of user equipment (e.g., userequipment 108, which may have any or all of the functionality of usertelevision equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wirelesscommunications device 506), or of a remote server separated from theuser equipment by way of communication network 514, or distributed overa combination of both.

At 602, a control circuitry 404 detects an event within a media asset(e.g., a sporting event being broadcast on television) that is currentlybeing played back to the user. For example, the media guidanceapplication (e.g., implemented on user equipment 108) detects a goal(e.g., an event) in a hockey game (e.g., a media asset).

At 604, control circuitry 404, namely, the media guidance application(e.g., implemented by the user equipment 108), detects whether an eventwas detected within the media asset. The media guidance application,through control circuitry 404, retrieves information from the userequipment 108 regarding the media asset and detects whether theinformation contains an event within the media asset currently beingplayed back to the user. If, at 604, control circuitry 404 determinesthat “No”, an event was not detected, the process reverts to 602.

If, at 604, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, an event wasdetected within the media asset, process 604 proceeds to 606. At 606,the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404, retrieves abiometric state of the user.

At 608, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the biometric state of the user indicates a changefrom a base biometric state.

At 610, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the biometric state of the user indicates a changefrom a base biometric state. If, at 610, the media guidance applicationdetermines that “No”, there is not an indication of change in thebiometric state of the user from a base biometric state, processproceeds to “End”.

If, at 610, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines that “Yes”, there is an indication of change in the biometricstate of the user from a base biometric state, process 610 proceeds to612.

At 612, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines a likely physical action of the user in association with theevent and the change from the base biometric state. The media guidanceapplication determines the likely physical action by sending a requestto a database including the event, and user-based metadata. The mediaguidance application receives the corresponding likely physical actionof the user.

At 614, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,transmits a command, based on the likely physical action of the user, toa network-connected object within the user's home, to adjust one or moresettings to facilitate the physical action of the user.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process 700 representingtraining network-connected objects to provide configurations inassociation with events within media assets, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At 702, the media guidance application,implemented by user equipment using control circuitry 404, stores arespective configuration setting of the network-connected object foreach of a plurality of events within the media asset and a baselinebiometric state of a user. Control circuitry 404 assigns each of theplurality of configuration settings to a respective state of thenetwork-connected object in which the network-connected object existedfor a threshold period of time after connection to a network of theuser. Control circuitry 404 assigns each of the plurality ofconfiguration settings to mechanical changes in an orientation of thenetwork-connected object. Control circuitry 404 designates each of theplurality of configuration settings as one of the plurality ofconfiguration settings by the user.

At 704, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,generates the media asset for display. In some embodiments, thegeneration of a media asset is displayed in response to a command by theuser to the media guidance application to display a selected mediaasset. For example, the user may be browsing an electronic program guideon the media guidance application and select a particular hockey gamethat is currently available for viewing. In response to the userselection, the media guidance application, through control circuitry,generates for display this selected hockey game.

At 706, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,detects an event within the media asset. In some embodiments, events aredetected by the media guidance application implementing comparativeanalysis using closed-captioning information. The correspondingclosed-captioning information associated with the media asset is takenby the media guidance application and compared by analyzing the textwith a set of predefined event trigger words for that particular asset.In response to the closed captioning text matching one of the predefinedevent trigger words, the media guidance application detects an event. Inother embodiments, image capture analysis is implemented by the mediaguidance application where known image capture techniques areimplemented to continually compare the playing media asset with eventdetection criteria, and in response to a match between the specificimage capture and the event detection criteria, the media guidanceapplication detects an event. In yet other embodiments, the mediaguidance application processes metadata associated with the mediaassets, where the media assets include information within the metadataregarding each temporal instance of the media asset (e.g., informationrelating to every timestamp of the media content). If this metadata iscompared by the media guidance application to a predefined set ofinformation defining events for the particular media asset, events canbe detected upon position matching of metadata associated with one ormore specific temporal instances of the media asset and the predefinedset of information defining events.

At 708, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,detects whether an event within the media asset was detected. If, at708, the media guidance application detects that “No”, an event withinthe media asset was not detected, process reverts to 706.

If, at 708, the media guidance application detects that “Yes”, an eventwithin the media asset was detected, process proceeds to 710. At 710,the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404, retrieves therespective configuration setting of the network-connected object for theevent from the database. In some embodiments, the database is embeddedin the user equipment. In other embodiments, the database iscommunicatively coupled to the user equipment (e.g., connectivitythrough WAN or LAN).

At 712, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404, sendsa command to the network-connected object to implement the respectiveconfiguration setting. For example, a user is watching a hockey matchwhile sitting in a network-connected recliner chair and an event of agoal being scored is detected by the team that the user supports. Themedia guidance application sends a command to the recliner chair (whichis connected to the media guidance application on the LAN of the house),where the command implements the configuration of the recliner chair tomaintain the current reclined configuration setting.

At 714, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the user has adjusted the respective configurationsetting to a new configuration setting within a predefined time of theevent. The media guidance application determines the predefined time ofthe event by inputting the event into a database of time thresholds forthe user for different events to determine the predefined timecorresponding to the event and the user. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application, by control circuitry 404, also determines thepredefined time of the event by inputting the event into a database oftime thresholds, for the baseline biometric state of the user, fordifferent events to determine the predefined time corresponding to theevent and the baseline biometric state of the user.

At 716, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the user adjusts the respective configuration settingto a new configuration setting. If, at 716, the media guidanceapplication determines that “No”, the user did not adjust the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting, process proceedsto “End”.

If, at 716, the media guidance application determines that “Yes”, theuser adjusted the respective configuration setting to a newconfiguration setting, process proceeds to 718. At 718, the mediaguidance application, by control circuitry 404, retrieves a biometricstate of the user from a biometric device. In some embodiments,respective multiple biometric states are retrieved by the media guidanceapplication from corresponding multiple biometric devices. For example,a user is wearing a smartwatch measuring the user's heart rate, whilesmart glasses measure the user's pupil dilation. Both the heart rate andpupil dilation information are retrieved by the media guidanceapplication.

At 720, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404, maydetermine whether the biometric state corresponds to the baselinebiometric state. In some embodiments, correspondence of the biometricstate to the baseline biometric state is accomplished throughimplementing acceptable variation with predefined tolerances by themedia guidance application. In some embodiments, the predefinedtolerances are based on third-party tolerances (e.g., medical journals,government health agencies, and the like). In other embodiments, thepredefined tolerances are based on a record of measured biometric statesof the specific user and a tolerance level calculated from only therecord of the specific user.

At 722, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the biometric state corresponds to the baselinebiometric state. If, at 722, the media guidance application determinesthat “No”, the biometric state does not correspond to the baselinebiometric state, process proceeds to 724. At 724, the media guidanceapplication, by control circuitry 404, replaces the respectiveconfiguration setting with the new configuration setting. In someembodiments, the media guidance application increases, in the database,a record of a number of times the user adjusted the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within thepredefined time in response to determining that the biometric state doesnot correspond to the baseline biometric state.

If, at 722, the media guidance application determines that “Yes”, thebiometric state does correspond to the baseline biometric state, processproceeds to 726. At 718, the media guidance application, by controlcircuitry 404, retrieves a biometric state of the user from a biometricdevice. The media guidance application does not increase, in thedatabase, a record of a number of times the user adjusted the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within thepredefined time threshold of the event in response to determining thatthe biometric state does correspond to the baseline biometric state.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process 800 representingdetermining that a network-connected object existed in respective statesfor a threshold period of time, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. At 802, the media guidance application, by controlcircuitry 404, monitors for a user input entered by the user into thenetwork-connected object. For example, the user physically pushes thelower section of the footrest of a network-connected object to revertfrom reclined configuration setting to upright configuration setting,this would be an input monitored by the media guidance application. Therecliner chair monitors the upright configuration for a threshold periodof time.

At 804, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines that the user input entered by the user resulted in a stateof the network-connected object. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication polls the network-connected device at a frequency requestingstatus of current states. In other embodiments, the media guidanceapplication receives updates from the network-connected object as soonas the object experiences a state change.

At 806, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,records a length of time until a subsequent user input entered by theuser results in a new state of the network-connected object. Forexample, the user adjusts the top seat recliner portion of anetwork-connected recliner chair gradually from 90 degrees to 45 degreesin a gradual motion. Each degree between 90 to 45 is not a state changeas the threshold period of time measured by the media guidanceapplication has not been met. Accordingly, the process describedprovides that only actual states are determined and no superfluousstates, which enhances the efficiency of the described process.

It should be noted that processes 600-800 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 1 and4-5. For example, any of processes 600-800 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4) as instructed by control circuitry implemented onuser equipment 502, 504, 506 (FIG. 5), and/or a user equipment devicefor selecting a recommendation. In addition, one or more steps ofprocesses 600-800 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-8may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-8 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, and 4-5 could be used to perform one or more of thesteps in FIGS. 6-8.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Theprocessing circuitry, for instance, may be a general purpose processor,a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) within user equipment 400, media content source 516,or media guidance data source 518. For example, a profile, as describedherein, may be stored in, and retrieved from, storage 408 of FIG. 4, ormedia guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5. Furthermore, processingcircuitry, or a computer program, may update settings of user equipment100 stored within storage 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source518 of FIG. 5.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to “relatedart” or “convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose ofproviding context to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, anddoes not form any admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for training network-connected objectsto provide configurations in association with events within a mediaasset, the method comprising: storing, in a database, a respectiveconfiguration setting, of a plurality of configuration settings, of thenetwork-connected object for each of a plurality of events within themedia asset and a baseline biometric state of a user; generating, fordisplay by a user equipment, the media asset; detecting, by the userequipment, an event within the media asset; and in response to detectingthe event within the media asset: retrieving, from the database, therespective configuration setting of the network connected object for theevent; sending a command, by the user equipment, to thenetwork-connected object to implement the respective configurationsetting; determining, by the user equipment, whether the user uses auser interface to adjust the respective configuration setting to a newconfiguration setting, of a plurality of configuration settings, withina predefined time after the event; in response to determining that theuser adjusted the respective configuration setting within the predefinedtime, retrieving, by the user equipment, a biometric state of the userfrom a biometric device; determining, by the user equipment, whether thebiometric state corresponds to the baseline biometric state; and inresponse to determining that the biometric state does not correspond tothe baseline biometric state, replacing the respective configurationsetting with the new configuration setting.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: in response to determining that the biometric statedoes not correspond to the baseline biometric state, increasing, in thedatabase, a record of a number of times the user adjusted the respectiveconfiguration setting to a new configuration setting within thepredefined time; and determining, by the user equipment, for the event,whether the increased record exceeds a threshold number, wherein therespective configuration setting is replaced with the new configurationsetting in response to determining that the increased record exceeds athreshold number.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising notincreasing, in the database, a record of a number of times the useradjusted the respective configuration setting to a new configurationsetting within the predefined time threshold of the event in response todetermining that the biometric state does correspond to the baselinebiometric state.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined timeof the event is determined by inputting the event into a database oftime thresholds for the user for different events to determine thepredefined time corresponding to the event and the user.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the predefined time of the event is determined byinputting the event into a database of time thresholds, for the baselinebiometric state of the user, for different events to determine thepredefined time corresponding to the event and the baseline biometricstate of the user.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of theplurality of configuration settings corresponds to a respective state ofthe network-connected object in which the network connected objectexisted for a threshold period of time after connection to a network ofthe user.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining thatthe network connected object existed in each of the respective statesfor the threshold period of time by: monitoring for a user input enteredby the user into the network-connected object; determining that the userinput entered by the user resulted in a state of the network connectedobject; and recording a length of time until a subsequent user inputentered by the user results in a new state of the network-connectedobject.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining thatthe network connected object existed in each of the respective statesfor the threshold period of time by: monitoring the network-connectedobject for a mechanical change resulting in a new orientation of thenetwork-connected object; and determining that the network-connectedobject remained in the new orientation for a threshold amount of time.9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of configurationsettings corresponds to mechanical changes in an orientation of thenetwork-connected object.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of theplurality of configuration settings is designated as one of theplurality of configuration settings by the user.
 11. The method of claim1, wherein the user interface is at least one of: a remote control, amouse, a trackball, a keypad, a keyboard, a touch screen, a touchpad, astylus input, a joystick, or a voice recognition interface.
 12. A systemfor training network-connected objects to provide configurations inassociation with events within a media asset, the system comprising: adatabase configured to store a respective configuration setting, of aplurality of configuration settings, of the network-connected object foreach of a plurality of events within the media asset and a baselinebiometric state of a user; and control circuitry configured to:generate, the media asset; detect an event within the media asset; andin response to detection of the event within the media asset: retrieve,from the database, the respective configuration setting of thenetwork-connected object for the event; send a command to thenetwork-connected object to implement the respective configurationsetting; determine whether the user uses a user interface to adjust therespective configuration setting to a new configuration setting, of aplurality of configuration settings, within a predefined time after theevent; in response to the determination that the user adjusted therespective configuration setting within the predefined time, retrieve abiometric state of the user from a biometric device; determine whetherthe biometric state corresponds to the baseline biometric state; and inresponse to the determination that the biometric state does notcorrespond to the baseline biometric state, replace the respectiveconfiguration setting with the new configuration setting.
 13. The systemof claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:increase, in the database, a record of a number of times the useradjusted the respective configuration setting to a new configurationsetting within the predefined time in response to the determination thatthe biometric state does not correspond to the baseline biometric state;and determine, for the event, whether the increased record exceeds athreshold number, wherein the respective configuration setting isreplaced with the new configuration setting in response to thedetermination that the increased record exceeds a threshold number. 14.The system of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to not increase, in the database, the record of a number oftimes the user adjusted the respective configuration setting to the newconfiguration setting within the predefined time threshold of the eventin response to a determination that the biometric state does correspondto the baseline biometric state.
 15. The system of claim 12, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to determine the predefined timeof the event by inputting the event into a database of time thresholdsfor the user for different events to determine the predefined timecorresponding to the event and the user.
 16. The system of claim 12,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine thepredefined time of the event by inputting the event into a database oftime thresholds, for the baseline biometric state of the user, fordifferent events to determine the predefined time corresponding to theevent and the baseline biometric state of the user.
 17. The system ofclaim 12, wherein each of the plurality of configuration settingscorresponds to a respective state of the network-connected object inwhich the network connected object existed for a threshold period oftime after connection to a network of the user.
 18. The system of claim17, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: monitor fora user input entered by the user into the network-connected object;determine that the user input entered by the user resulted in a state ofthe network connected object; and record a length of time until asubsequent user input entered by the user results in a new state of thenetwork-connected object.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to: monitor thenetwork-connected object for a mechanical change resulting in a neworientation of the network-connected object; and determine that thenetwork-connected object remained in the new orientation for a thresholdamount of time.
 20. The system of claim 12, wherein each of theplurality of configuration settings corresponds to mechanical changes inan orientation of the network-connected object.
 21. The system of claim12, wherein each of the plurality of configuration settings isdesignated as one of the plurality of configuration settings by theuser.
 22. The system of claim 12, wherein the user interface is at leastone of: a remote control, a mouse, a trackball, a keypad, a keyboard, atouch screen, a touchpad, a stylus input, a joystick, or a voicerecognition interface.